remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dreier: i'm going to begin by doing something i don't think i've ever done when managing a rule. traditionally when mr. boehner gets up or mr. diaz-balart or ms. foxx would stand up here, we rise to make the case for members of the minority. we're republicans we make the republican case about how important it is for us to ensure the rights of the minority, something james madison talked about very eloquently 220 years ago. today, i rise in behalf of all of my colleagues, madam speaker, all of my colleagues, and i rise especially today for democrats because it's unprecedented that we would be in the circumstance that we are today. now i've seen an awful lot in this institution in the years

i've been privileged to serve here. i have observed the way this house is run. in most instances, under both democrats and republican, i've been proud of the work product that has emerged. but in many of those instances, i have been less than proud of the way the greatest deliberative body known to man, or what has been described as by people like the distinguished chair of the committee on appropriations, mr. obey, is no longer the greatest deliberative body known to man, or at least we're slipping away from that, because we're undermining the deliberative process. usually, madam speaker, when we get off track, which has happened under both republicans and democrats, and put our short term goals ahead of the long-term interests of the institution, it is not a good thing. it's -- we often believe it's noble for us to put our

short-term goals there because we have an important priority. when my friends in the majority ask the nation to give them control of this house, they correctly criticized me personally and others within the republican leadership because we said that we limited their voices in amendment and debate. it happe often, but it -- it didn't happen often, but it did happen. i would say that without the ability to offer improvements to legislation and ideas, members of this body could not do the job that they are charged with doing. and that is pursuing the hopes and dreams and aspirations of their constituents. we all represent, you know, a little less than 3/4 of a million people, we have a responsibility, democrats and republicans alike, to do just that. that's why i say again, madam

speaker, i rise in support of the ert to -- effort to ensure that my democratic colleagues are not shut out of this process. now, as you know very well, madam speaker, when our california colleague, speaker pelosi, took the gavel she promised she would do better than i did as chairman of the rules committee, and that our republican leadership has done in the past. unfortunately, this rule before us really illustrates just how far we have fallen from those great words that were put forward by speaker pelosi. with this rule, it's difficult for me to know exactly where to begin with criticism, but let's start with the very nature of the rule itself. we all know that the house has allowed less debate and fewer amendments in its consideration of bills over the last few years. the one great exception, madam speaker, the one great exception to that has been the appropriations process.

why? because we all know article 1, section 9 of the constitution places the responsibility to spend the people's money in our hands, as members of congress. we've always taken this responsibility very seriously in a bipartisan way. and we've always under -- under republican, allowed democrats and republicans to engage in a free flowing and rigorous, rigorous debate. this last week, we all know, everyone is very, very concerned about what happened last week, my democratic colleagues are concerned with the number of votes held and the outrage we demonstrated. we republicans are horrified that we began down that route. unfortunately, last week's act was just the warmup. the warmup to what we're seeing today. today, we are beginning what can only be described as the

main event. this is because today's rule will become the model for every appropriations bill we consider in the future, very likely this rule, this rule, madam speaker, will become the model for every bill we consider in this congress. now, rather than any member, republican or democrat, being able to offer any jermaine amendment on behalf of their constituents and the nation this resolution from the rules committee, under the direction of chairman obey and speaker pelosi, limits what ideas can be debated on this floor and as i said, it limits the ideas proposed by my democratic colleagues. so anyone who tries to say that i'm standing here, madam speaker, just whining in behalf of the minority, it is preposterous. democrats stood in line before the rules committee until 11:00 last night and democrats have been shut out of this process and so unfortunately, i,

representing the minority, am the only one who can stand here in behalf of our democratic colleagues. unfortunately, our constituents, and i say this to my colleagues, our constituents in democratic districts and republican districts alike, are unfortunately being held hostage by the chairman of the appropriations committee. if he is having a bad day, the american people will have no recourse. that means that our constituents' concerns about spending will go unheeded. we all know that's what this is about. if you doubt it, look no further than last week funding bill for this institution alone. the funding bill for this institution alone. we fought for several amendments that could bring about a reduction in the 16.2% increase in spending for the legislative branch appropriations bill. we had some large cuts, but we

had the most modest cut imaginable. the gentleman from georgia, mr. brown, offered an amendment in the rule committees to allow for a one half of one percent reduction in the 16.2% increase that we put into place. well, the american people are struggling to make ends meet. people are trying to keep their jobs, their homes. we in this institution allowed for a 16.2% increase and